1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to image forming apparatuses including multifunction peripherals, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing processes in such an image forming apparatus based on user authentication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, sharing of an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral (“MFP”, which includes the multiple functions of a facsimile, a scanner, and a copier, for example) has become increasingly common in offices of organizations or corporations, wherein a plurality of computer terminals are connected over a network. In such an environment, confidentiality of image data handled on the network needs to be maintained. Further, as the image forming apparatus is shared by multiple users, improvement in utilization efficiency is desirable.
For example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-222141 directed to a network scanner apparatus, address information including at least a user name, a password, distribution information, and a reference address is set for each address to which data is distributed via a network and registered in an address information storage unit. Based on the combination of the user name and password in the address information storage unit, user authentication is performed, and use of the network scanner apparatus is granted only to those users who have been authenticated.
However, in the above invention, because the image data of a manuscript that has been read is transferred to a certain destination, the image data may be viewed by unintended people when the terminal at the destination is shared by multiple users. Furthermore, utilization of the network scanner apparatus is granted to all of the users who are authenticated. It should be noted that many of the modern image forming apparatuses are multifunctional and include FAX and copy functions as well as scanner function. If the multiple authenticated persons are granted utilization of all such functions of a multifunctional image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus may possibly be used for unintended purposes.